“The Lok Sabha election campaign started on December 1, 1984, and I decided to start working in Patna and make my way to Amethi in the Sultanpur area in Uttar Pradesh.

“While in Patna on December 3, I heard on the radio: 30 dead in gas leak in Bhopal. Ignored it and took the plane to Lucknow.

“Drove towards Sultanpur to arrive at a dhaba by 9 pm. On a black-and-white TV, saw the most bizarre news footage of dead people being wheeled on wooden handcarts. Toll: 120 dead.

“Decided to go to Bhopal.

“Maybe it is a denial, a kind of guilt that I have not been able to do enough on a personal individual level for the people, the situation. And that is I guess the shallowness of 95 per cent of the journalism we do. We all tend to walk away. It’s the next story that we look to and the story is just a story.

“This experience really scared me. Showed the ugly side of modern development and what corporate greed and negligence was all about.”

Elsewhere, in the same paper, N.K. Singh, then a junior reporter in the Indian Express, pens a first-person piece on the trauma of reporting the tragedy.

The human tragedy waiting to happen in the city mosques had been prophetically predicted by the outstanding journalist Raajkumar Keswani (in picture, left) years earlier. “Bhopal jwalamukhi ki kagaar par (Bhopal on the edge of a volcano),” ran a headline for Keswani‘s piece in 1982.

N.K. Singh writes that he too was alerted to what was to unfold on December 4, by Keswani.

“I was fast asleep under a warm quilt in Bhopal when the phone rang. My friend Raajkumar Keswani, a journalist living in the old quarters of the town, sounded agitated, a little incoherent and was gasping for breath and coughing. He said there was a commotion in the street, people were running around and something had happened.

“‘I am having a problem breathing,’ he said….

“On the evening of December 3, 1984, as I sat on my typewriter to write the story of the world’s worst industrial disaster, tears started welling up in my eyes. That evening, and for many evenings after that, tears would keep rolling down my cheeks even as I hammered at the keyboard to meet the deadline of the newspaper.”

For his work on Bhopal, Raajkumar Keswani was later decorated with the B.D. Goenka award.

***

Last year, on the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, Shreekant Khandekar, the former Bhopal correspondent of India Today, recounted the experience in an article in Outlook magazine:

“I was just 28 and had to work alone because everyone else was busy with the forthcoming general elections. Thankfully India Today was then a fortnightly and my deadline was still a week away….

“I needed the dope for a detailed illustration, showing how things had gone wrong. I found a local studio that was Carbide’s official photographer. I bought more than a hundred photographs of the Carbide premises from every conceivable angle. I also plotted the layout of the plant on a sheet. Then, at the back of every picture I noted the angle from which a particular piece of equipment had been photographed.

“Meanwhile, I had located a former safety officer of Carbide who now worked in Delhi. I flew down and ran him through what I had. He said it sounded technically plausible. And when our artist put together an illustration based on the photographs and layout sheet, the safety officer was amazed by its accuracy.”

20 comments

It’s already being made to sound that Warren Anderson is more culpable than Keshub Mahindra and the Managing Director. Well I beg to differ. All three are in the same bucket and need to be held liable for the deaths caused on their watch.

Economic Times, is displaying outrage at the weakness of the judgement, but makes no mention of the fact that they honored Keshub Mahindra with a life-time achievement award.

I will continue to contend that our journalists are by and large excellent at what they do. It is the business heads in the media houses that will quash anything that may affect their product sales (their product being advertising space).

>I will continue to contend that our journalists are by and large excellent at what they do

I think you have not yet heard about owner/stock option editors/journalists/Anchors. If not all, most of the journalists have got accustomed to easy money & high life.

ERR Sir,
>Warren-Andersons-nine-hundred-thousand-dollar-luxury-home-in-new-york
The man is wallowing in poverty, for nine hundred thousand dollars you will not get a decent 3bhk apartment within driving distance of 25 kms from VT station in Mumbai.

I can only cry. For being responsible for the death of 25,000 odd people, what is the punishment? 2 years jail (and I am sure this will in due course be reduced to two months due to ‘good conduct’). When we read in the news papers that immediately after announcement of the verdict the convicts applied for bail immediately and they were immediately granted and were released immediately, I can only cry… cry for the people of India. Few days back, when there was air accident and 158 people died, the heading given in Churumuri was “Bastards with blood in their hands”. And now? cry people cry.

This case was FUBAR’ed by then Union/State governments, and it is impossible for law to catch up with the people who did this now.

In fact, it is a cautionary tale for us and our laws should be amended immediately avoid such acts to go unpunished.

In fact, We’ll see that no one will go to jail for Killing of Sanjana (in Hebbal) through criminal negligence. The politics has already begun on that… Our Public officials should be held criminally responsible, in case they approve shoddy works. But, our laws protect all acts done by Govt. servants while carrying out govt. work.

Now the US corporations of death are busy exporting the next tech for such disasters-in-waiting to India. Remember the nuclear liability bill awaits the parliamentary okay, and the UPA2 is all too eager to please the American passing the bill so that the next gen in India will pay maybe an even bigger price, some day. Aren’t the Americans happy that the Bhopal case is closed now?

I believe FERA was still active at that time and repatriation of profits was not possible and hence getting US corporation blamed may be difficult as it will be difficult to establish a trail of mischief to orders from US to increase profits.

If the factory inspector too got charged then they will have stronger case to pursue Anderson back to India to face his sentence. Because then the case can be of premeditated murder rather than negligence. Also rather than criminal negligence they should have gone after corruption charges if they found that factory inspector was lenient to Union Carbide.

Further more, what made India government sign the deal with Union Carbide?

I also read that when government asked the aggrieved parties to apply for compensation..number of people who applied were twice of then population of Bhopal..:-(.. When will let go our innate ability to con :-(.

***

This is a slap on face Government which wants to sign nuclear liability bill. Corporations have mastered the art of cheating with impunity. Hose the nuclear liability bill.

Even though FERA was active in 1984.. Union Carbide had been granted exemption and it had 50.99 % stake in Union Carbide India.

So technically noose should be around UCC and not Union Carbide India Limited alone!!!

If you go to UCC website under Bhopal section it mentions that it was not the owner. That is a red herring. UCC divested its stake to Eveready after the Bhopal incident.

We also need to get the CBI officer who was responsible for the case during the time this sale of equity in the noose. Sale of equity amounted to tampering of evidence in a crime scene because a criminal case was ongoing. Investing agencies can prevent sale in such situation and clearly the CBI officer did not have any reason why he did not do so.

Crack that CBI officer and you will have a bribery charge on UCC.

Anderson needs to rot in hell

uncover extensive documentation links on how UCC screwed India by following links below.

Mind your words man!! Judiciary is too strong man.. They can track you and charge you on contempt of court.
In your situation you can use the following template paragraph to replace the strong words against judiciary.

The advantage of this paragraph is that this paragraph praises the judge and hence can not be contempt but those who know situation in India know what this is.!!!

Judge is most most exalted plenipotentiary of all that we see around. He is solely responsible for my past and my present. He is also shaping my future. He is the hand that has served me what my country men eat everyday. He does justice to all us the humble and illiterate masses day and night. Everything around me is because of him. Hail Judge.

Like the trial, this reaction is quite delayed and ultimately, pointless.

When the Supreme Court, back in 1995 decided that only 304A charges could be framed against the accused, the conclusion was foregone. Maximum penalty under 304A is two years.

There’s also been no government official who has been prosecuted for plain dereliction of duty and negligence. The Congress government which dropped extradition efforts of Anderson has not faced any consequences of that act.

Sorry, but all this rage and fury is inchoate and undirected. I give it a week to dissipate.

Agree that this verdict though shocking, should not totally surprise us. As Alok points out, the charges were diluted a long time ago. In my opinion, some of the anger and energy that has been directed at the individuals responsible should have been focussed on getting more compensation.
Culpability of individuals who are influential is really hard to prove in court for such actions and even if they are convicted it would mean little for all the ones who suffered.
On the other hand compensation, even if it reaches some of the affected families can be beneficial. If as some reports suggest, there are not enough people left to compensate, the court could still direct the authorities to use that money on the betterment of the community in that region.

This can happen only in India.By seeing this Sri.Rajiv Dixit started
Azadi Bachvo moment.We are giving our hard earned money and making US richer.Please do not use any of the US based products,
Stop using pepsi,colas,Tropicana jucies,Lays chips everything.
Now HINDUSTHAN LEVER has dominated our INDIAN markets and making huge money which ranges from lakme to rin soaps .If you read the Rajiv dixits artilces you will come to know.
Please use desi products and strenten our economy.

This my 15th year in journalism, I am a photojournalist. But as you have rightly mentioned about present day’s media trend that glorifies only the up-market and in the pretext getting justice to certain cases, they ony try to sell the product than to get the justice. There are lot of Warren Andersons amidst us today than ever before. Justice will only be a mirage now, I dont see any improvement for next 200 years.